[Variant 2: 

1837.

  ... on the leaves 1800.]

[Variant 3: 

1837.

  The skeletons and pre-existing ghosts 1800.]

[Variant 4: 

1837.

  ... yet unborn, the rustic Box,
  Snug Cot, with Coach-house, Shed and Hermitage. 1800.]

[Variant 5: 

1815.

  It is a homely pile, ... 1800.]

[Variant 6: 

1837.

  He through that door-place looks ... 1800.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A:  The title of this poem in the edition of 1800 was simply ’Inscription for the House (an Out-house) on the Island at Grasmere’.—­Ed.]

This “homely pile” on the island of Grasmere—­very homely—­still remains.—­Ed.

* * * * *

MICHAEL

A PASTORAL POEM [A]

Composed 1800.—­Published 1800

[Written at the Town-end, Grasmere, about the same time as ’The Brothers’.  The sheepfold, on which so much of the poem turns, remains, or rather the ruins of it.  The character and circumstances of Luke were taken from a family to whom had belonged, many years before, the house we lived in at Town-end, along with some fields and woodlands on the eastern shore of Grasmere.  The name of the Evening Star was not in fact given to this house, but to another on the same side of the valley, more to the north.—­I.F.]

Included among the “Poems founded on the Affections.”—­Ed.

  If from the public way you turn your steps
  Up the tumultuous brook of Green-head Ghyll,
  You will suppose that with an upright path
  Your feet must struggle; in such bold ascent
  The pastoral mountains front you, face to face. 5
  But, courage! for around [1] that boisterous brook
  The mountains have all opened out themselves,
  And made a hidden valley of their own. 
  No habitation can be seen; but they
  Who journey thither find themselves alone [2] 10
  With a few sheep, with rocks and stones, and kites
  That overhead are sailing in the sky. 
  It is in truth an utter solitude;
  Nor should I have made mention of this Dell
  But for one object which you might pass by, 15
  Might see and notice not.  Beside the brook
  Appears [3] a straggling heap of unhewn stones! 
  And to that simple object appertains
  A story—­unenriched with strange events,
  Yet not unfit, I deem, for the fireside, [4] 20
  Or for the summer shade.  It was the first
  Of those domestic tales that spake to me [5]
  Of Shepherds, dwellers in the valleys, men